The Beaver Bundle lay at the back of the tepee, between Mad Wolf and his wife. It had a wrapper of elkskin painted red; and the tie strings were also of elkskin. To the outside were attached sacred implements—a long pipe, digging stick, and a set of smudge sticks.
During the ceremony of opening the bundle, the outside articles were removed first. And for this the four principals, Mad Wolf, White Calf and their wives, Gives-to-the-Sun and Catches-Two-Horses, chanted in unison, while the two women untied the strings and loosened the smudge sticks. The four together placed their hands upon the sacred sticks and held them in the sweet smoke. Then, each held a stick in imitation of beavers carrying branches of trees. They extended their arms together, with hands raised and parallel—the Indian sign for beaver den—and prayed in unison to the spirit of the beaver:
“Pity us! Give us your wisdom and cunning.
May we live to be old.
May we always have plenty of food.”
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Buffalo hides were next unrolled and spread upon the ground in front of the beaver men during the chant:
“The buffalo bull stays in the mountains.
He comes down to the plains.
The mountains are his medicine.”